Erie, PA Outdoor Lighting: Light Trespass & Shielding (2026)

Section 206.13 covers 'Signs and lighting requirements' for the Industrial Park District, and subsection (b), 'Glare and lights standards,' is where the light-trespass rule lives. It reaches every fixture type the code can think of, spotlights, floodlights, electrical reflectors, and 'other means of illumination,' and applies that list to five uses: signs, structures, landscaping, parking areas, and loading/unloading areas. The requirement isn't a brightness limit; it's a direction-and-placement rule, the fixture has to be 'focused, directed, and so arranged' so its light doesn't cross onto an adjoining street, a residential district line, or an agricultural district line.

The rule carries one exception, lighting 'required to illuminate a hazard' is exempt, which covers things like warning lights on tall structures or equipment that needs to stay visible for safety. Because the requirement sits inside the Industrial Park article rather than the general regulations in Section 305, it binds IP-zoned parcels specifically; individual conditional uses elsewhere in the code, such as churches, nursing homes, and continuing care communities, carry their own separate 'no glare to adjoining properties' conditions under Section 305. Erie's outdoor recreational facilities in the IP district get a related instruction under Section 206.3(c): if they're lighted, the fixtures 'must be shielded away from any thoroughfares and residential districts,' reinforcing the same no-trespass goal for a different category of use.